Big League Stew

Skip Schumaker’s new baseball card features the rally squirrel … but not Skip Schumaker

Skip Schumaker's card in the 2012 Topps set does not actually feature Schumaker.

Well, that's not completely true. The bottom of Skip Schumaker's pants leg is actually quite visible in the 2012 Topps Series 1 baseball card set that's launching on Wednesday.

But most of the cardboard real estate belongs to the rally squirrel that dashed across Schumaker's path as Roy Oswalt delivered a pitch during the fifth inning of Game 4 of the NLDS last October. In the weeks that followed, you'll remember that the rally squirrel became a baseball sensation as Schumaker and the St. Louis Cardinals surged to an unlikely World Series title.

Now that l'il critter has somehow become big enough to push Schumaker almost completely off his own baseball card. According to Topps, it's the first time in company history that a player's card has not featured the player's face.

The company also says that it hasn't given Schumaker a sneak peek at this latest piece of memorabilia, so one can only guess what he thinks of playing second fiddle to the squirrel on his own baseball card. But he can take solace in the fact that some of the cards will feature Schumaker's face. According to Beckett, the squirrel will only appear on the "short-print" variation of the card, making the squirrel version a valuable find for collectors out there.

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